Down the hatch: Amarillo businesses serve $46.4M in alcohol

KAREN SMITH WELCH

Saturday

Dec 29, 2012 at 8:26 PM

Amarillo bars, restaurants and private clubs grossed $4.2 million from booze sales in October, according to state figures posted last week.

Compare that with Cowboy Stadium, which had a booze sales volume of $1.58 million in October, based on the $221,083 in mixed-beverage taxes the stadium paid the state in November, a report from the Texas comptroller's office said.

The state taxes alcohol sold by establishments holding mixed beverage sales permits at a rate of 14 percent.

Amarillo bars, eateries and clubs paid a total of $588,638 in mixed beverage taxes in October, the report showed - meaning they logged a combined sales volume of $4.2 million.

Customers in Amarillo downed $46.4 million in booze from November 2011 through October, based on state mixed beverage tax revenues of almost $6.5 million from restaurants and nightclubs in the city, according to an AGN Media analysis of monthly state comptroller's reports.

Buffalo Wild Wings, 5416 S. Coulter St., sold the most in that year, with gross receipts of nearly $1.4 million, resulting in taxes of $195,224.

"We make it real conducive for people to want to hang out," he said. "We don't ever want to be a bar. We want to be a family restaurant and bar."

Howard said his Midland-area Buffalo Wild Wings stores, especially, have seen sales boosted by the frenetic pace of oil and gas development in the Permian Basin, Howard said.

"There's so much oil money in those markets, they're buying the higher-costing beers and higher-costing liquors," he said. "They're not buying the cheap stuff."

Sports bars took four of the top 10 slots for sales volume between Nov. 1, 2011, and Oct. 31.

Hummer's Sports Cafe had the 10th highest alcohol sales volume during the 12-month period, paying mixed-beverage taxes of $114,731 on gross receipts of $819,510, according to the AGN Media analysis. The business at 2600 Paramount Blvd., Suite 2 is celebrating its 29th year.

"There was a time when we were in the top two or three," owner Ted Sanders said. "There's been a lot of (new) places that have come in since then. We have our little niche, and I feel very blessed to have it."

Sanders attributed his pub's longevity to a comfortable atmosphere, a substantial beer menu and good food. Food sales represent 60 percent of the sales at Hummer's, he said.

"I think we just try to do the basics," he said. "Without our food, our bar sales wouldn't be as good."

The Big Texan Steak Ranch owner Bobby Lee pegged the opening of The Big Texan Brewery there as "the single-most significant reason" the ranch has seen increased alcohol sales.

"We were really amazed and pleased with the numbers that were coming out once we did get the brewery kicking out beer," Lee said of reaching the No. 4 slot for the 12-month period. The ranch paid $131,770 in taxes on $941,214 sales from November 2011 through October.

The Big Texan's limo service also has helped the ranch make additional sales, he said.

"It's safe to serve them (limo passengers) an extra drink, and they can be relaxed and stick around a little bit more and spend a little bit more," he said.

The service has picked up an estimated 51,000 people at Amarillo hotels, RV parks and truck stops since it began, Lee said.

Despite its high sales volume, Cowboys Stadium didn't sell the most alcohol in October, according to the comptroller.

On top that month was the Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention Center, a 1,511-room property in Grapevine that has meeting space to accommodate 5,000 people.

Patrons there downed $1.78 million in beer, wine and liquor in October, based on the resort's November mixed beverage tax payment of $248,814.

The comptroller estimated that, in October, Texans gulped $2.3 million gallons of distilled spirits, 3.8 million gallons of wine, 44 million gallons of beer and 5.7 million gallons of ale - calculations based on gross tax collections.

In the fiscal year that ended Aug. 31, the state collected $727.3 million in mixed beverage taxes, comptroller's spokesman R.J. DeSilva said.

"The mixed beverage permit tax is a tax on the establishment," he said. "It's not a tax on the individual buyer."

Patrons of businesses that have permits to sell only beer and wine pay sales tax on their alcohol purchases. Those establishments do not pay the 14 percent mixed beverage tax rate, DeSilva said.

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